Michigan’s Republican party has devolved into feuding factions – and at this point, it’s not even clear who, if anyone, is in charge.
Kristina Karamo, the Michigan GOP’s election-denying chair, was ousted in a 6 January vote held during a special meeting called by state committee members critical of Karamo. But she and the faction that support her have refused to step down, further inflaming the chaos that has engulfed the swing-state Republican party with the 2024 presidential election just months away. On Saturday, the party will meet to vote on a new state party leader.
Even if Karamo’s opponents succeed in choosing a new chair this weekend, their vote is unlikely to settle the matter – dragging the beleaguered party deeper into internal conflict that promises to escalate as the 2024 elections approach.
Both sides are already getting litigious. Karamo’s opponents have signaled they will go to court to settle the matter, while her remaining allies within the state party sent cease-and-desist letters to them on Thursday alleging trademark infringement and warning them to stop using Michigan GOP logos and branding.
The crisis within the Michigan GOP may be the most dramatic example of the rift that has grown within the Republican Party across the US since Donald Trump left office, with members clashing over election denialism and the US Capitol attack. In Michigan, a crucial 2024 battleground state, internal divisions over religion, interpersonal politics and the leadership’s handling of party finances have left the state GOP in disarray. Disagreements have even devolved into physical altercations in the last year, prompting law enforcement officials to intervene in at least one case.
By the time Karamo was elected to chair the party in 2023, she already had a reputation for floating wild conspiracy theories and had made an unsuccessful bid for Michigan secretary of state. Karamo, who ran to be the state’s top elections officer on a platform of election denialism, never conceded her overwhelming loss in the statewide race. Now, she’s once again refusing to admit defeat.
She claimed that the meeting to oust her wasn’t legitimate under party rules, and responded by holding a separate meeting to reaffirm her leadership on 13 January where she announced the party had suspended numerous local party leaders who had called for Karamo’s ouster. Karamo’s opponents, in turn, denounced that meeting as illegitimate.
Karamo has continued to insist she remains the rightful chair of the party.
“The matter has been settled,” said Karamo in a recorded announcement on 13 January. The state committee had, she said, “reaffirmed me as chair of the Michigan Republican party.”
Similar correspondence came in a barrage the following week.
“We were getting five or more emails a day,” explains Kelly Sackett, the chair of the Kalamazoo county Republican party. “It’s very ironic for someone whose platform is election integrity to not believe in the election where she was overthrown.”
So far, one body that would seem to have the authority to help settle the matter – the Republican National Committee (RNC) – has refrained from weighing in. And even if they do, Karamo’s faction says it wouldn’t matter.
“While the RNC has not expressed an opinion, their opinion would be irrelevant as well,” wrote the Karamo-allied Michigan GOP executive director, James Copas, and general counsel, Daniel Hartman, in a Wednesday statement obtained by the Guardian. (Karamo’s opponents also voted to remove Copas and Hartman during the 6 January meeting.)
Complaints about Karamo’s leadership have largely focused on the state GOP’s dwindling finances. The Michigan Republican party was short on cash before Karamo took office in February 2023. But things have gotten much worse. Local party officials questioned financial decisions by the party’s leadership under Karamo, including their decision to take out a loan to pay a more than $100,000 speaking fee for Jim Caviezel – the actor who starred in The Passion of the Christ and has emerged as a celebrity proponent of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Tensions came to a head in late 2023 when the party, mired in debts, sued Comerica Bank and Michigan Republican Party Trust, which owns the state GOP headquarters. Short on funding, party leadership hoped they could sell the headquarters – but were unable to do so given that the trust, which is controlled by a more traditional cohort of “old guard” Republican party members, controls the building.
